Twelve Apostles

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
Twelve Apostles The nickname given by Union sailors to the 12 enemy canons guarding Vicksburg, Mississippi, from a water battery near the levee.

From "The Language of the Civil War" p. 366
 
Ironic how both sides evoked the righteousness of God for their side.
German Soldiers' belt buckles were engraved with the motto "Gott Mit Uns", " God with US", so the feeling that God is on their side is a widely held belief or aspiration among armies throughout history.
 
There is a great Chapter "Between Heaven and Hell" from the book"The Soldiers of the Civil War" by William C, Davis on the importance of religion and belief in God by both sides. He talks about Chaplains in every regiment, services held on Sundays, and the religious revivals that were held during the war. Religious revivals were held twice for Confederate forces.. Most notable was the one held by the Army of Tennessee in the Winter of 1863-1864. Services were held nightly and everyone from Generals to privates attended. Thousands were baptized at this time.
 
Most soldiers (both sides) were rather well-versed in the Bible. For many, the Bible was the book which was used as the primer when they were taught to read, and was the only book in the house (books were comparably quite expensive back then). Church attendence was common to most families, and most of the social life of small towns and villages revolved around the churches. In addition, death was well-known to people of that era, large families were created in the hope that a few children might survive, and death from accident, disease, and child-birth were common.

Herman Melville's Moby Dick was first published about 1854, and Melville assumed that most readers would well be aware of the contradictions involved in naming a child "Ahab" (as was the captain of that vessel), and that a Quaker would be consumed by hate and revenge against any creature. These days, most people wouldn't know who King Ahab was, and why this wouldn't have been considered an appropriate name for a child.
 
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